Roger CôtéProfessor Emeritus, Faculty of Medicine, Université
de Sherbrooke
President of the Secretariat International de Nomenclature Medicale (SFINM)

Wednesday, November 26,
2003
3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Davis Centre, Room 1302
University of Waterloo

This seminar is of interest to
Health and IT Executives, IS/IT Staff, Faculty and Students.
There is no charge for this event, however, we ask that you
register to attend.
Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Abstract

Roger Côté is world-renowned for his work in medical
vocabulary development, having led the creation of the Systematized
Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED). A Pathologist, Côté
recognized that the Systematized Nomenclature of Pathology (SNOP), used
to describe specimens, could be the basis for a comprehensive
vocabulary of clinical medicine. First published in 1965, it was
immediately used in English-speaking countries and translated into
numerous languages. In 1971, Sherbrooke created a French version of
SNOP, and used it in semi-automatic coding of diagnoses in collaboration
with Dr. Arnold Pratt at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Côté's and Pratt's early successes encouraged the
College of American Pathologists to undertake the extension of their
work to all of medicine. Côté was appointed chair of this
enormous task, which, after developing SNOMED I and II, led to SNOMED
International. Since 1995, SNOMED has evolved further with SNOMED-RT (Reference
Terminology) and currently SNOMED-CT (Clinical Terms). The UK and U.S.
have now accepted SNOMED-CT as a standard. His seminal work which
began with expanding the 4-axis terminology of SNOP, ultimately led to
an 11-axis vocabulary that encompasses all aspects of clinical
medicine. We consider it the greatest Canadian achievement in Health Informatics.

This seminar will present highlights of the work in developing a
vocabulary of medicine.

Roger Côtéobtained
his doctorate in medicine from the Université de Montreal in 1955
and a Master of Science in Experimental Pathology from Marquette
University in 1964. He began his academic career at Marquette
University and continued at Tufts University and Harvard University. In
1969, he joined the Université de Sherbrooke as professor of
Pathology and department head. From 1983-1988, he was Secretary of the
Faculty of Medicine at the Université de Sherbrooke. In 1973,
he was named Chairman of the Committee on Nomenclature and
Classification of Diseases of the College of American Pathologists and
developed the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) from 1973
to 1993.

In recent years, he has worked on
the French translation of this nomenclature for use in Quebec. This
work in the field of medical nomenclature was recognized by his peers
in the United States when, in November 1979, he was awarded the
"Outstanding Meritorious Service Award" by the College of American
Pathologists. In 1992, he was awarded an honorary doctor of science
degree for his work by the University of Victoria and in 1997, he
received the "Pathologist of the Year" award. Currently, Roger Côté is
President of the Secretariat Francophone International de Nomenclature Medicale
(SFINM). He is also a diplomat of the American Board of Pathology in
both Anatomic and Clinical Pathology.

For more information

Seminar Hosts

This seminar is hosted by the Waterloo Institute for
Health Informatics Research (WIHIR) and The infraNET Project,
University of Waterloo.

The infraNET Project, initiated by the
University of Waterloo in 1996, is a partnership to advance Web and
Internet technologies. Its founding partners are: LivePage (now part
of Siebel), MKS, Open Text, RIM, Sybase (Waterloo) and Waterloo Maple.

We also gratefully acknowledge the
assistance of the Institute for Computer Research, University of
Waterloo.